crafty

The picture above is of a badge holder worn by Kathleen Sloan at FilKONtario a while back (you can click on the photo for a larger version). She made it herself; I'm amazed at this woman's beadwork. I always try bidding on Kathleen's beaded stuff at Interfilk auctions, but the price always shoots way above my price range.

I admire those (like Kathleen, Allison, and Michelle Bottorff who made the beaded UT figures I mentioned earlier) who have the skill and patience to do crafts like this.

The last piece of needlework I did was the blanket I started crocheting for Sara when I heard that Ruth was pregnant for the first time. I guess I must have been so overwhelmed by astonishment that I was going to be an aunt that my enthusiasm overcame all rational thought.

By the time I realized what I had gotten myself into (i.e. about five stitches into the project), it was too late to back out...Ruth was all excited about the blanket. It seemed to take me ages to crochet that thing; I took it everywhere with me, even when we went winter cottaging with Ruth and Kaarel.

It was kind of fun working on it at first. Part of me could see the appeal of a longterm project like that; you were never at a loss about what to do with your hands, you could multitask while watching television, it was kind of cool to see the final product slowly emerge over time. But wow, emphasis on the "slowly"!

My blanket ended more the size of an over-sized handkerchief than a real child's blanket, but Ruth was thrilled with it, just the same. I even found a "Made with love from your aunt" label to sew into the corner. It's not the greatest piece of crochetwork and some of the stitches are bunched and crooked, but it was definitely a work of love. :-)

I had originally planned to sew one for all my other nieces and nephews, but that pipe dream went out the window pretty fast (i.e. halfway through Sara's blanket).

So now I'm just waiting for the day when Sara and Annie are digging through old boxes and come across the blanket, and Ruth explains that their Auntie Debbie crocheted a blanket for Sara and not Annie. Maybe the ensuing guilt will spur me to pick up my crochet needles again. Or maybe by the time my nephew/nieces start having kids, the memories of my first blanket experience will have faded enough that I'll start thinking, "Hey, that wasn't so bad. Maybe it's time to try crocheting again..."

Or maybe I'll just buy them some nice obnoxious percussion toys instead. :-)





Saw "Fiddler on the Roof" last night for the first time (thanks to Luisa for lending me the video!). I can't believe I didn't see this movie before! It was wonderful!! Really enjoyed the music, the romance, the characters. Somewhat darker than I expected; some of the scenes deals with anti-Semitism because of the setting of a Jewish village in Czarist Russia...but that just made me enjoy the film more.

I was surprised to Michael Glaser in the movie; I kept expecting Hutch to appear. Topol and Rosalind Harris were great.

Jeff would have hated this movie. :-)

I keep forgetting to post the URL to my new column on Writing-World.com, "Press Kit: The Author's Guide To Self-Promotion". Do check it out if you have a chance.

Going to the cottage today, yay! I'll be going up with JBR.

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Today's Blatherpics:

Today's pics are from FilKONtario a while back.

	The gorgeous beaded badge holder that Kathleen made. Click on the picture at the top of the page to see a larger version.
	Jodi and Allison.
	Eric and Dave comfort me as I wait in the lobby of the FKO hotel, unable to find Allison and Jodi on the last day of the convention so I could say good-bye to them. Photo by Ju.